5th: Magic Mike – Steven Soderbergh (2012)
Watched at Gioia’s. It was so fun. Soderbergh is great at establishing a world and having a character try to disrupt it. Channing Tatum’s amazing in his role.
Grade: B+
11th: I Heart Huckabees – David O. Russell (2004)
Watched at home with Gioia. It was really funny in parts. I thought Jude Law and Jason Schwartzman were both great. I think the movie was a little too meta and convoluted for it to fully work for me.
Grade: C+ / B-
12th: The Kindergarten Teacher – Sara Colangelo (2018)
Watched at home. The movie is perfectly set up. It’s well written. Maggie Gyllenhaal is fantastic. It’s so dark and a bit nihilistic. That is obviously intentional, but it’s a hard movie to come away from feeling good. Even if it’s pretty well made.
Grade: C+ / B-
13th: Bernie – Richard Linklater (2011)
Watched at home with Gioia. I believe this was only my second time seeing it. It’s great. I think in terms of Linklater movies, it actually suffers a bit. I don’t think it’s asking a super interesting question or is as delightful as his hangout movies. But everyone in it is great, and the story itself is so dark and funny.
Grade: B+
20th: A Serious Man – The Coen Brothers (2009)
Watched at home with Gioia. It’s so good. Maybe the best Coen Brothers movie.
Grade: A
21st: Fyre – Chris Smith (2019)
Watched at home with Gioia. Truly insane. I hate everybody in it (besides the people who actually live and work on the island).
23rd: If Beale Street Could Talk – Barry Jenkins (2018)
Watched at Logan with Wills. A heartbreaking, beautiful movie. It may be better than Moonlight in my opinion. It would be a great, great movie if it were just a romance. Yet, it’s able to use that theme and storyline to make larger points about injustice and racism that are really moving and impactful.
Grade: A
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2 thoughts on “2019 Movie Log: January”